Page 46 of Jewel of the Alien Bandit
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Vareo
“SHOULDN’T YOU BEwith your mate?” Genbi asked without even turning to see who I was. He had always been more intuitive than me. His eyes were still focused on the screen before him, and his guards let me pass without a word.
“You know why I’m here,” I spoke softly, still debating about my decision.
Lord Zorn finally turned to take a look at me, and his usual grin didn’t grace his features when he said, “If you had half a brain you wouldn’t be. Any reason why you would be in my chambers instead of your own, burying yourself into the folds of your mate leads me to believe you haven’t one.”
I narrowed my eyes over my shoulder as his guard chuckled at my expense.
“Don’t take your decisions out on Pri-Re, she simply agrees that you’re not in your right mind and if I were a better man I’d be turning you around and shoving you back the direction you came from.” Genbi sighed before waving me forward. “But, for you, I’ll listen to why you are doing something against the wishes of your mate.”
“How do you know—”
He lifted a hand to cut me off.
“As feisty as that one is, if she agreed with what you’re about to ask of me she’d be at your side.”
Sinking down into the cushions of the chair next to Genbi, I buried my face in my hands before running them through my hair in frustration.
“She’s not shol, she doesn’t understand what she is to me. She’s the very air I breathe, and I barely know her, yet I know everything about her at the same time. The more I get to know her the more I love, and I can’t let her go. Not now.”
“You intended to,” Genbi added gently, but allowed me to finish.
“Of course I fucking did, she’s meant to shine brighter than what I could ever give her. She’s facing a war on two fronts, and only a political match would help save her planet from what is coming. What is probably already there.”
My best friend merely nodded and leaned back in his chair, saying nothing.
I punched him in the gut, making him lurch forward with a chuckle, as I didn’t put my full force into the action, but needed him to give me something besides his indifference. “Just tell me what you need from me to convince you to join this fight. To give her planet time to defend itself. To make sure she isn’t forced into mating a krelin!”
He lifted his hands in mock surrender. “You’ve made your case, but your mate will not like the cost.” With a shrug, Genbi pushed a button that revealed a large vial and syringe. “This is my high-profile slave tracker, and I guarantee it will overwhelm whatever nanobots King Sylve has in you. It’s only used on our most valued slaves. That is merely the first step of the request you’re asking for.”
We both knew the cost of what I was asking. It wasn’t just about my freedom from King Sylve, though I guesssed that’s a side effect. I took the offered nanobot injection, twisting thesyringe into place within the vial. All I would have to do is jab it to my neck and press the button.
“You need an army, and the only one that will follow you into war for the rights to protect your mate, seize control over a planet with Globin Flower deposits, and fierce enough to rival that of King Sylve and the Krelins is that of Lord Zorn. Do you understand what you’re committing to?” Genbi shook his head, but pushed a brand into the searing heat of a chemical reactor at his station.
Pri-Re and the other guard, who I recognized as HodKar knelt at the entryway with their weapons thumping against their chest. They’d overheard everything and made no objection. They knew who I was and somehow their acceptance made this decision all the easier.
“For Luan, I’d do anything.” Sliding from the cushions I took a knee at his feet.
“Right, brother. So be it.” Genbi took his dagger from his sheath and carefully cut back the hair from the right side of my head down and revealed the tattoo beneath my hair. “All those who see this mark will know what you have done here, and will follow you as if it has always been. You can stop now, say the word or complete the vow.”
He stopped with his hand holding my head steady, and the branding iron in his other, the heat steaming close to my skin. “From darkness we are born, in heat are we forged, and on this day I take my place as lord to those with no voice but my own.”
Genbi held my head taunt, gripping my hair as he pushed the brand into my skin. Searing pain blinded me as my flesh melted for a second time. I gritted my teeth and hissed as the smell assaulted my nose. Jamming the vial of nanobots into my thigh I pressed the button to release the tracking serum, starting the process of cleansing my system from the virus left there by King Sylve.
Genbi smacked my head and lowered his own at my feet. The sound of metal clanging against armor from the two guards quieted.
“Lord Zorn,” he addressed, lifting his braid in offering.
I clutched his braid, placing it to my heart, and then stood. The brand on my scalp still throbbed and a small trickle of blood dripped behind my ear where it didn’t fully cauterize before the brand was released. Probably from my own instinct to pull away from the heat.
“Brother, we must prepare the warriors,” I offered him my hand to rise to his feet alongside me.
He shook his head, and did not take my hand. My chest clenched at the sight of defeat in his eyes, of a resolve I hadn’t seen there since our childhood.
“For you they will fight, they will fight for the Zorn that refused to rise at the cost of their life. For their lives were always in your hands.”
